Video Library

Two-faced Rajoub who prohibits sports with Israel: “Sports can be… a bridge to making peace” but not with “our enemy [Israel], which doesn’t want us to engage in sports”

Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: "I hope that all the nations that have conflicts will insist on separating sports and politics. Sports can be a bridge to affection and creating connections, and a bridge to making peace. Of course, that's true for the whole world except for our enemy [Israel], which doesn’t want us to engage in sports and doesn’t want us to convince the world that we are worthy of a state and independence."
[Algerian TV 3, Sports Hour, Feb. 27, 2018]

Jibril Rajoub has warned Palestinian athletes that they will be banned from Palestinian sports if they engage in any “normalization” activities with Israel.
When Palestinian and Israeli children played football together after the Gaza war in 2014, Rajoub condemned this peacebuilding activity as a “crime against humanity.”